Archive for the ‘Webb Space Telescope’ category

I have been trying to figure out recently why people don’t understand what IR detector data looks like, given that we have examples and studies and in a few cases specifications of what we’ll get from JWST, and examples and analysis of NICMOS, Spitzer and some Keck data. My wife explained it to me, and then I looked at the numbers. She’s right, and I wanted to publicly thank her.

We have some simulated data, a cutout of which is shown here, that gives you the general idea of what the data will look like if it’s pretty good. Jay Anderson (STScI) did this simulation.

Simulated NIRCam Data with 1% bad pixels

That picture is 1 percent bad pixels, which is pretty good. For the roughly 4 megapixel NIRCam, you’d expect to get 40,000 bad pixels, before you add any cosmic rays. That means one in every hundred pixels is a bad one. It could be one in 50. And still, that’s pretty good.

The position is posted internally now, but will be external any time. The ideal person would have experience with control center systems, ideally building one, and be experienced in working with developer, astronomer and system engineering communities here and at Goddard. This is work that Carl Biagetti is leading, and Carey Myers is starting to work on.

To quote me:

The JWST Flight Operations Subsystem Engineer will be responsible for refining the FOS operations concept, defining systems requirements, interfaces and architecture as well as supporting the development of FOS elements and their integration with the JWST Science and Operations Center. The FOS Systems Engineer will work under the direction of the STScI FOS Systems Engineering Lead as a member of a concurrent engineering team responsible for the FOS Ground System. This position will require interaction with JWST science, operations and development staff, the JWST NASA GSFC project, JWST contractors and representatives of other missions to achieve the work objectives.

Knowledge of the state of the art in satellite control center systems is required. This includes experience with the following: one or more NASA GSFC developed systems such as TPOCC, ITOS, ASSIST, HST CCS; one or more commercial systems such as EPOCH, ECLIPSE or OS/COMET; ground station and communications satellite interfaces; satellite command procedures languages; satellite control center operations procedures.

If you are somebody like that, or know somebody like that, I want to talk to you, even if you aren’t interested in doing this kind of work yourself. (For one thing, I can use help on the interview team!)

This is new stuff for us, so it’s a challenging, exciting opportunity.